By the end of ther 2019-2020 academic year, students reading at well under grade level may not be promoted to the fourth grade.

Andy Middlestead is the director of the Education Department’s Office of Assessment and Accountability. He can’t say how many Michigan third graders may be held back.

“I don’t want to give it an estimate because we are currently working through a strategy as to how to best flag these students,” says Middlestead, who adds they hope to finish “fleshing out the process" in the next six months.

Michigan’s “Read by Grade 3” law allows school officials to promote some under-performing students for “good cause” if the students are performing well in other areas.

They have unspecified plans to improve kids' literacy long before they're 8 or 9 years old. But it remains unclear how far policymakers will go to deal with students who still aren't reading well enough by the end of third grade.